Ultra Wide Lens Recommendations

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Hi all, I'm building a compact wide angle 4x5 camera with extensive (2.5" or so) front rise for architectural use, and would like to hear any suggestions on lenses in the 75-110mm range that have this kind of coverage. I'm more interested in hearing about the older lenses, like the Protars, Pantogonal, or Hypergons, and even the lesser known ones, but would be interested in modern ones as well. Thanks in advance, Henry

-- Henry Suryo (henrysuryo@coopercarry.com), May 09, 2002

Answers

As far as Schneider is concerned, the 72mm Super Angulon XL, the 90mm Super Angulon XL, the 90mm f5.6 Super Angulon, the 110 Super Symmar, the 120mm Super Angulon, or it's single coated cousin, the 121mm Super Angulon.

Rodenstock and Nikon have their corresponding offerings in the 115mm-120mm and the 90mm super wide-angles.

I have a couple of books on old lenses, and the following might be of interest. The hypergon would have that kind of coverage, but as a collectors item, it's a very expensive lens. And, you would suffer in image quality. The wide-field 111mm Dagor only has an image circle of 186mm, so it won't get that kind of coverage. A series V Protar is supposed to have a 100 degree field, so depending on the focal length, it could have that kind of coverage. Another possibility listed is a Wollensak Extreme Wide Angle, which is supposed to have a 95 degree coverage. While a 4 1/2" lens was documented, I'll bet they're rare.

Why mess with older optics, they're not as good.

-- neil poulsen (neil.fg@att.net), May 09, 2002.


On 5x7 at f/32 I can get about 1cm of rise/fall with my 4 3/8" (111mm) WA Dagor, so I would guess that the image circle is about 220mm. Not exactly 2.5", but not too shabby for an older lens. I briefly had a 120mm Angulon which had about the same image circle, but performance wasn't up to the Goerz.

-- jason (sanford@temple.edu), May 10, 2002.

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